Redhook brewery site in Woodinville sells for $24.5M

Originally published December 5, 2017 at 4:04 pm
Updated December 5, 2017 at 9:04 pm

The large Redhook brewing facility and adjacent Forecasters Pub in Woodinville have been sold by Craft Brew Alliance to a real estate firm. (Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times)

The new owner’s plans for the 20-acre Woodinville property are not yet clear. The buyer is Sound Commercial Investment Holdings, a Washington-based real-estate holding company that deals with both commercial and residential real estate.

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The Woodinville property that for 23 years housed the Redhook brewery — the state’s largest active beer-making facility until it closed this summer — has been sold to a real-estate company for $24.5 million.

The property’s owner, Portland-based Craft Brew Alliance, announced the deal this week after revealing in May that it would end production there and sell the facility to focus locally on its new Brewlab on Capitol Hill.

The Forecasters restaurant and pub at the Woodinville site will close at the end of the year, said Jenny McLean, a spokeswoman for Craft Brew.

The buyer is Sound Commercial Investment Holdings, a Washington-based real-estate holding company that deals with both commercial and residential real estate. As is often the case with real-estate LLCs, there is virtually no information about the group online, and efforts to reach the company Tuesday were unsuccessful.

McLean said the new owners still haven’t clarified their plans for the site, noting the transaction has yet to close. That’s expected by the end of the year.

The semirural property, which sits near several of Woodinville’s wineries and restaurants like The Herbfarm, includes a production facility, restaurant and office space.

Built when Redhook was an independent company bent on national expansion, the facility in recent years was mostly used to brew beers for other companies. It was underutilized by Craft Brew Alliance as sales of Redhook lagged, and the company built a Portland brewery it considered more efficient. Half the staff was laid off a year ago.

Pabst, which had brewed some beers at the facility, previously had a $28 million option to buy the site. That deal was dropped last spring, as Pabst’s effort to rekindle sales of its Rainier brand fell short.

Craft Brew said this week that the outcome is expected to reduce its 2017 earnings by 2 to 3 cents per share, meaning $580,000 or less.